February marked the first time Michigan has had 15 online casino operators since October.
The launch of SI Casino brought the state back to its full use of available online casino licenses. As the only SI Casino in existence, its performance in Michigan will be watched closely.
Was it able to meet the starts of other recent Michigan online casino launches?
SI Casino launched Feb. 7 in Michigan
The Michigan Gaming Control Board approved SI Casino as the new online casino provider for the Hannahville Indian Community on Feb. 7.
Sports Illustrated took over the license from TwinSpires, which closed its online casino and sportsbook operations on Sept. 6.
SI Sportsbook was immediately licensed to be the online sportsbook of Island Resort & Casino, but it took some time for them to secure an online casino license.
Now a full go, SI Casino Michigan offers the following gaming library:
- Live-Dealer: 11
- Slots: 419
- Table Games: 36
- Video Poker: 11
Included in the gaming library is a handful of daily jackpot slot options which guarantee the jackpot must be hit each day.
SI Casino MI passes $500K in February revenue
Opening in a short month, with the first week already passed, SI Casino didn’t put up much of a revenue total in February.
The new brand recorded $587,466 in iGaming revenue for the month.
It was the lone Michigan operator to not tally more than $1 million in revenue.
With 22 days of operation in the month, Sports Illustrated averaged $26,703 per day in revenue.
By comparison, other Michigan online casinos near the bottom of monthly revenue averaged the following daily total:
- PointsBet: $52,0247
- FireKeepers: $55,648
- betParx: $69,198
- Eagle Casino & Sports: $90,229
BetMGM, Michigan’s clear online casino revenue leader, averaged $1.73 million a day in revenue for February.
How does SI Casino’s debut compare to other Michigan online casinos?
The previous online casino to make its debut prior to Sports Illustrated was Eagle Casino & Sports.
Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort and Saganing Eagles Landing Casino & Hotel launched their online product on April 14, 2022.
That gave Eagle Casino 17 total days in their opening month.
Eagle Casino & Sports recorded $398,111 in online casino revenue for April 2022. That worked out to an average of $23,418 per day.
Since, Eagle Casino & Sports launched, it increased in monthly revenue over its next seven months. It’s $24.4 million in all-time online casino revenue has put it already ahead of PointsBet and SI/TwinSpires combined.
In the first two months of 2023, Eagle Casino & Sports is 11th of 15 Michigan operators with $4.95 million.
Other operators that launched after January 2021 saw similar starts to SI Casino and Eagle Casino & Sports.
- Four Winds: Launched Feb. 15, 2021. Had $214,458 over first 14 days ($15,318 average)
- betParx: Launched April 23, 2021. Had $180,092 over first 8 days ($22,511 average)
- PointsBet: Launched May 4, 2021. Had $612,361 over its first 28 days ($21,870 average)
How did SI Casino MI launch compare to TwinSpires?
TwinSpires was among the eight online casinos to launch on Michigan’s go-live date of Jan. 22, 2021.
Over its first 10 days, TwinSpires recorded $60,642 in online casino revenue. That was an average of just $6,064 per day.
That total jumped up to $1,185,150 in February of 2021, an average of $42,327 per day.
TwinSpires actually peaked in March of 2021 with $2.2 million of revenue. From there it never surpassed $1.8 million in a given month.
SI Casino should be encouraged by its opening month. It’s in a competitive Michigan market that is thriving right now.
March will help show how much growth SI Casino can make, but all signs point to it seeing big gains.
